Melinda Dillon

An original member of the Second City improv troupe, Melinda Dillon scored a Tony nomination for her supporting work as the vulnerable Honey in the original Broadway production of "Who's Afraid of Vir...
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As the end of the Nikita season finale neared, things were looking hopeful. Even though the President of the United States was dead, and Nikita was taking the public fall for it, the team was together and ready to fight to expose the truth of what Amanda had done. Michael and Nikita were alive and together, both having just narrowly escaped death. The remaining Dirty 30 agents were all dead. Division was (finally) blown to bits and the team was at a safe house. They had a tough road ahead of them but they were ready to get to work.
And then Nikita ran. She couldn't put her friends and loved ones "in the line of fire" for her anymore. She left her engagement ring on the window sill and slipped out while everyone was enthusiastically planning a way to clear Nikita's name and find out just how Amanda got the president to kill herself and frame Nikita (while unbeknownst to them, Amanda and The Shop had actually kidnapped the real president back at the international summit last episode, and planted a clone that committed suicide and framed Nikita). When Alex, Ryan, Birkhoff, Michael, and Sonya realized Nikita was no longer in the room with them, Michael knew instantly what was happening. He ran after her, calling her on her cell, but she was long gone, and her cell phone discarded. He found the ring, and the tears started flowing.
"Mikita" has weathered so much this season, from Michael's son with another woman to Nikita chopping off his hand. Even in Friday's finale, Nikita almost lost Michael when he volunteered to have his heart stopped for 20 minutes to kill all the nanotoxins in his body so Amanda couldn't trigger them and Nikita wouldn't have to go through with killing the president. When they tried reviving him, it took too long, and when the music started swelling it looked like we had lost another major Nikita player (RIP Sean Pierce, I'm still not done mourning you!). I'm not going to lie, I was sobbing. There was no way after suffering from heart failure for longer than 20 minutes that Michael would survive, and even if he did, there had to have been some brain damage, right?
But miraculously, Michael gained conciousness with a witty one-liner that let everyone know he was alive and well, no brain damage at all! Everyone was happy, safe, and ready to clear Nikita's name... except for Nikita.
We've seen Nikita struggle with letting go and working as a team the entire series, and even when we thought she might finally let her guard down with her friends and fiance, she reverted back to Season 1's Nikita. Setting off on her own will certainly make it harder for her to clear her name, but she never could truly allow her loved ones to risk their lives for her. She always tries to solve her problems on her own, as we've seen in many previous missions.
As we head in a shortened, and final, Season 4 (six episodes, to be exact), we can sure as hell expect Michael to hunt down his future-wife, force that ring back on her finger, and help her clear her name, whether she wants him to or not. But knowing Nikita, and how amazing she is at disappearing, he might have a tough road ahead of him. If he can find her, will "Mikita" ever be the same again?
We'll have to wait until the final six episodes of the series air to find out the fate of Michael and Nikita, as well as bad-guy-possibly-turned-good-guy Sam (no longer Owen), Alex's new role as a UN spokesperson, and Amanda and The Shop's plans for their presidential hostage. Until then, time to go back and re-watch Season 3!
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaumFollow Hollywood.com on Twitter: @Hollyw00d_com
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The big moment has finally arrived on tonight's Nikita: Nikita (Maggie Q) and Amanda (Melinda Clarke) in the same room, together for the first time since Nikita was forced to chop off Michael’s (Shane West) hand to save his life as a result of Amanda’s actions. This entire season has centered around the cat and mouse game Amanda has played with Nikita and Division, and last week featured her betrayal of longtime love and ally Ari Tasarov (Peter Outerbridge). In tonight's can't-miss episode, "Reunion," we'll watch Amanda attempt to kidnap Ari’s son Stefan to use him as leverage. But since he is still in Division’s protective custody, Ari begs Nikita for help. However, Stefan’s bodyguard manages to capture both Nikita and Amanda, and the two must work together to escape.
Whoa, Amanda and Nikita have to work together? We told you tonight’s episode is a can’t-miss! With both the big bad of the season and our heroine captured — plus severely raised stakes — don’t expect all of your favorites to make it out of this season alive. Dillon Casey, the man behind the Navy SEAL-turned-Division agent Sean Pierce, warned Hollywood.com that there will be some major casualties. "A lot of bodies are going to start hitting the floor," Casey reveals. "Nobody is safe."
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We've always known that Nikita is a high-stakes show, with characters dying all the time. But will one of our favorites be among the casualties? "I can’t tell you who is dying, but I can tell you that at least two very important people will be dead by the end of this season," Casey says. How’s that for a reveal? Time to start the speculation: who isn’t going to make it out of this season alive? We hope it’s Amanda, but something tells us we’re going to be shedding some tears for someone on the good side of Division...
Casey also mapped out the plan for the rest of the season: the focus is now firmly on taking down Amanda before she takes down Division. "The Dirty 30 has been put on ice for a while, because Amanda’s taking stronger action against Division," Casey says. "She has risen up as the main villain that they have to face now, and she wants to take down Division — take down Nikita — [using] whatever means necessary. She is the number one person they have to worry about."
And even though Division has a lot of expensive technology and resources behind them, it will take a lot more to defeat the nefarious Amanda. "She has been planning this for ages, so they have to face being a step behind for a while," Casey says. "There is a lot more asking the question, 'does the end justify the means?'"
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That question has been a plague ever since the good guys took over Division. What happens after Division has taken down Amanda and the Dirty 30? Do they keep it running, or shut it down?
"[Division] has too much power and not enough accountability," Casey says. "It's always on a slippery slope, and it always comes down to the morals of the people running it. So Fletcher now has a lot of power in his hands. Whether or not Division’s a good or a bad thing is fully dependent on his decisions."
And now that Division's one ally in the government is dead (thanks to, surprise surprise, Amanda), that slippery slope of using Division for good or evil has even higher consequences. "For the President, the only way to shut it down is to kill it, and kill everybody involved," Casey says. "As an illegal operation they could decide to go rogue and essentially become terrorists. It’s mutually assured destruction between the President and Division. [At] any minute they could decide to wage war on the other."
But the one thing keeping the uneasy alliance in check is the one thing they are working together to take down. "It’s like these two people who wished the other didn’t exist, battling against a common enemy," Casey says. "It’s the common enemy that keeps them both going. It keeps them allied. And that common enemy is Amanda."
So what do we think — should she die, or is Amanda's life too important for the rest of our heroes? Let us know in the comments below!
Nikita airs Fridays at 8 PM ET/PT on The CW.
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW]
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Sean Pierce is not a happy camper. When we last saw our favorite Navy SEAL on Nikita, Division had just faked his death after Amanda (Melinda Clarke) framed him for the assassination of the head of the CIA, making him a true member of Division. That’s right, the reluctant volunteer agent is now stuck in the last place he ever wanted to be. Dillon Casey, the man behind the SEAL-turned-Division-agent, is quick to talk all about Sean’s plans for the near future, including his new penchant for drug use – and not wearing any underwear.
"Actually, in the next episode he gets into weed," Casey says. "He’s hanging out in his room hitting the bong and playing Nintendo. But that only lasts like a week." Let’s hope Division has plenty of Cheetos handy, because Sean’s munchies are about to get out of control.
All jokes aside, Casey couldn’t stress enough just how unhappy Sean is in his new situation as a full-time Division agent in tonight's all-new episode, "With Fire." "He doesn’t really have any choice. He’s a part of Division now whether he likes it or not," Casey says. "I guess he doesn’t have to fight for them. He can just walk around complaining and eating their food and leaving a mess if he wants, but I think he will go stir crazy after a while."
Thanks to Sean’s past as a Navy SEAL, he feels an obligation to do something, anything, even if that means joining an operation he never agreed with in the first place. "He’s a Navy SEAL. These guys are nonstop energy. If people are out on a mission in the field, he is going to go crazy not being a part of it," Casey says. "And he’s also got Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca), he’s got to watch her back. So he needs to be involved in one way or another. Right now he’s sort of processing this extreme change that’s happening in his life and he’s trying to let go of any resentment he might have towards anyone who helped put him in this position and move forward and help out in a way that he can. While he’s here, he can make the best of a bad situation and put his skills to work."
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Trying to make the best out of a bad situation is also a good way to describe his relationship with conflicted girlfriend(ish) Alex, since this new situation is going to put more than a little strain on them. As if they didn’t have enough problems already, Alex and Sean are going to be facing their own personal struggles now that they’re both in Division full time. “Is Alex happy ever? The warmest scene we’ve had of [Alex and Sean] besides the sex one was the one that happened in ‘Black Badge,’ when they’re in bed together. And they’re even fighting a little bit there!” Casey says. “So Alex, as much as she has Sean around now that she’s got full access to the guy, feels a little bit guilty because she feels like if she had left Division a long time ago, back when he said she should have, then this wouldn’t have happened. Sean’s life wouldn’t have been thrown upside down.”
And it’s especially hard for Sean to adjust to life as a Division agent because he never truly belonged there. “Everyone who is a part of Division is there because they’ve made huge mistakes in their lives. They’re convicts, they’re kind of bad people who were given a second chance,” Casey says. “He is the most well-intentioned, and, for lack of a better word, the best person on the show. He’s a Navy SEAL, he doesn’t have a criminal history, he hasn’t really done anything treasonous. He was pulled into Division against his will and for that reason he harbors a lot of resentment for the place and everybody involved and that includes Alex as well. So between her guilt and his resentment they’re headed into another rough patch and they’re going to have to find a way to work it out.”
Another wrinkle coming up for Alex and Sean is... Owen (Devon Sawa)! While Owen and Alex may not have anything romantic going on, there is definitely reason enough for Sean to be jealous of Owen in tonight’s episode. “He just doesn’t like the guy. He knows who Owen is, this ex-cleaner, and Sean is just disgusted,” Casey says. “He dissolved bodies in acid, not a very honorable job, and despite the fact that Owen now walks around acting like he’s this good guy, I don’t think Sean really trusts him.”
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Of course, the fact that Alex is now partners with Owen doesn't help. “Now that Sean is injured and he can’t go out in the open because he’s supposed to be dead, Alex’s new partner becomes Owen, and Sean just doesn’t trust the guy. He’s like, ‘Who the hell is this guy who’s taking my spot?’” Casey says. “I guess it is a little bit jealousy because they’re both alpha males when it comes down to it. He works hard to keep Alex alive and have her back, and now all of a sudden he’s lost complete control of her and he has to give it up to this douchebag.”
All in all, Sean does not have much to be happy about when we begin tonight’s new episode. “He wakes up in Division and he’s going stir crazy,” Casey says. “When he was facing the charges of murder and treason, he was facing the death penalty or a life sentence in prison. Now he’s five hundred feet underground in this secret organization with a shoulder sling on and he can’t go out in the light of day. So he’s still basically in prison. Sean is going crazy, while Alex has to go out in the field with Owen, so it’s a whole new world for him. He would rather put his life at risk than be safe at home, if it means being able to protect Alex, so new tensions are arising.”
But one treat that fans can look forward to tonight? “I think he takes his pants off,” Casey teases. “He goes commando. These guys actually do go commando.”
Nikita airs on Fridays at 8 PM ET/PT on The CW.
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/The CW]
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Spielberg's latest film, Lincoln, hit U.S. theatres last month (Nov12) and to celebrate his long career of successes, the trio got together for a creative tribute piece in America's Harper's Bazaar magazine.
Akerman thrills by recreating the scene where a skinny-dipping Chrissie Watkins, played by Susan Backlinie, is killed by a great white shark in his 1975 classic Jaws, while The Ides of March star Wood acts as a horrified Laura Dern who was terrorised by dinosaurs in Spielberg's Jurassic Park.
Fanning steps into the role of distraught mother Melinda Dillon comforting her on-screen son in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and 13-year-old actress Kiernan Shipka also participated in the shoot, portraying a young Drew Barrymore in blonde pigtails as she kisses the titular character in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Sometimes a director has a favorite actor that they jibe with whom they cast in a whole whack of movies in a row. Think Scorsese and DiCaprio Wes Anderson and Bill Murray or Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst. It's a sort of professional infatuation that can serve a project well but it can also lull them into self-indulgence. Although this is only the second time that Killing Them Softly's writer/director Andrew Dominik has worked with Brad Pitt it feels like they have a certain camaraderie. The symbiosis previously worked in their favor in 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. This time around they never quite find the same rhythm.
Of course Killing Them Softly has an entirely difference cadence than that golden-hued meditative Western; it's stylishly violent and blackly hilarious. After all the catalyst for this whole affair is a half-cocked scheme cooked up by a wanna-be gangster nicknamed Squirrel (Vincent Curatola) and carried out by a desperate ex-con (Scoot McNairy) and a scummy Australian junkie (Ben Mendelsohn) who steals and sells purebred dogs for cash. Their plan to knock over a mobbed-up card game is air tight (or so it seems): the game runner Markie (Ray Liotta) has confessed to setting up a heist of his own game in the past. The knuckleheads think the card-players will blame him again.
Unfortunately for them Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is called in to investigate the matter. His record is impeccable his glasses mirror-slick and his hands steady. His technique is of course to kill his victims "softly " from a distance. "It's so embarrassing " he comments to a middleman played by Richard Jenkins to watch his targets plead and cry and lose control of their bodily functions. It's just as embarrassing to see his colleagues lose their mettle like Mickey (James Gandolfini) a gangster he called in to help out. Mickey is a dogged drunk and a womanizer who's given to rapturous platitudes about a prostitute he knew in Florida. "There's no ass in the whole world like a young Jewish girl who's hooking " he tells an increasingly frustrated Jackie. Grossly funny scenes like this the scatological problems one encounters while driving dog-napped pups across country and an explosion gone awry are outweighed by a weirdly bloated narrative that makes pits stops so characters can loll in junkie nods to the tunes of the Velvet Underground.
The changing political climate of the era is used as a clumsy foil for this underground economy. At first it's interesting and makes you feel a bit clever to notice the TV in the background playing an old clip of George W. Bush droning on about the economy or a huge political ad on a billboard looming over a desolate area. As time goes on Bush is replaced by Obama (first as senator later as president) on TV but nothing really changes for these people or their situations. Midway through it's obvious and by the end overbearing especially as Jackie lectures Jenkins's lawyer (and us) about why the system is as screwed as the characters. "America's not a country it's a business. Now f**king pay me " he tells Jenkins's Driver in an echo of the classic Goodfellas line uttered by Liotta.
Dominik has only made three films but he's a formidable writer and director with a keen eye for assembling ensemble casts. It's possible that time and multiple viewings will treat Killing Them Softly as well as it has The Assassination of Jesse James or Chopper but for now it works better as a character study or perhaps a showpiece for its talented performers than an overall experience.

S8E7: With only two more episodes left in the entire series, Entourage finally pulls out the big guns – and by big guns, I mean big ol’ crocodile tears. It took eight seasons, but the show finally found an emotional hook. And no, I’m not being sarcastic. I felt compassion for Ari. I felt sad for Dana. I felt worried for Turtle. I felt anger at E. And I actually felt happy for Vince. Is this an alternate universe, or am I just getting soft because I know it will all be over after next week’s episode? Perhaps it’s a mixture of both.
“I’m like the Francis Ford Coppola of iMovie.” – Turtle
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To convince Sophie to date him, Vince enlists Turtle to help make a video of all his old girlfriends talking about how he was sweet and took great care of them – with one last newly pregnant ex as the kicker. This is the hardest we’ve ever seen Vince try for a girl and it’s not that he’s ever been a bad guy, it just seems strange that he’d nab such a catch. This plot point probably falls on the “acceptability because of sentimentally” side of things, but hey, it’s Vin’s last hurrah, so let’s let him be happy for once, eh?
Drama drops off the video for Sophie and tries very hard to convince her to date his brother. Kevin Dillon’s acting may be as terrible as his character’s is supposed to be, but Drama convinces Sophie to give Vince a chance, even though she doesn’t date celebs and her last her boyfriend was a pediatric surgeon at Johns Hopkins. Yeah, Hollywood star doesn’t sound quite as prestigious.
Later, Sophie calls a number that she thinks is Vince’s and it’s actually Turtle’s. He continues the sentimental praise for Vince – and what I’m guessing is the series’ way of sending off the character that is the anchor for its each and every plot – and he tells Sophie to give him a shot. She says she’ll have a drink at the Chateau Marmont with Vince even though this is the “weirdest courtship of all time.” True, but can’t a Vanity Fair journalist muster a better adjective?
“The only reason I didn’t knock out that firecrotch Flay for being in my house is that I can’t afford a lawsuit.” –Ari
Vince’s script still isn’t materializing into a movie for Billy Walsh and Drama and it takes a squirrelly little game of whodunit (though if we paid attention last week, we’d know that the guilty party was Phil Yagoda, in his office, with a box of smashed apology cookies) to figure out who the wrench in the system is. Dana loves the script – for a TV movie – because it’s emotionally manipulative. Hmm, smells like Lifetime (or the Hallmark Channel if you’re Dana’s buddy). She says she’ll pull some strings, but Ari needs to read it. He’s so distraught over his marriage that it brings him to tears IN HIS OFFICE of all places. He’s actually forged an emotional connection with it and will do anything to get it made, there’s just one small snag: the Hallmark Channel wants Zachary Levi and Phil Yagoda wants anyone but Drama as payback for the Johnny’s Bananas walkout. The solution? Vince throws 100 Gs at Phil’s dog charity and boom, Drama’s back in and the movie’s a go.
Fired Up
Ari, however is still very much out of sorts. While in bed with Dana, all he can talk about is figuring out how to get money to pay off his soon-to-be ex wife and she asks him what he’s doing with her. In one of the most honest and tender scenes I can remember on Entourage, Ari tells Dana how wonderful she makes him feel but admits he still loves his wife. Dana’s extremely sad but she tells him he has to figure out what his wife is missing and give it her. (And let’s be real, he will and it will all end happily ever after.)
“Turtle, you got your checkbook?” –The Don Pepe Couple
The Queens couple is still being a pain in Turtle’s ass, but at least they finally admit it. They only came to LA to be wined and dined; they had no intention of opening a Don Pepe’s West Coast location, but they wanted to see the restaurant where the Octomom (blech) used to go, and they want to rent the space for Don Pepe’s because the street it’s on, Bella Rosa, is the owner’s mother’s name. Two small problems – the price tag is a bit steep and the couple won’t invest a dime.
Cue Turtle calling investors – including The Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira as well as the Knicks’ Amare Stoudmire – but they’re getting annoyed that he’s asking for more money and he’s risking losing their support altogether. It gets even worse when A-Rod mentions that Avion went public and that everyone Turtle advised to sell their stock like he did is going to be pissed because they just lost the opportunity to make millions. Turtle’s upset because he could have used his millions to start Don Pepe’s. Miraculously (and we’ll okay this because it’s the second-to-last episode), Vince kept his stock and bought Turtle’s and says he’ll sell it back for its original price (300 bucks) so that Turtle will get his $4 million return, which means he’s rich and he’s opening a Don Pepe’s. I’m not going to lie, it makes me happy to see Turtle succeed, even if it’s because Vince saved his ass again.
“Oh – you’re fired go fuck yourself.” –Johnny Galecki
Despite the immense profitability of having Johnny Galecki as a client, E still wants Scott to drop him on pain of E quitting the agency. E continues his streak of being a complete and total idiot and finally the characters in Entourage’s little world are getting fed up too. Scott refuses to drop the actor, gets E to admit he slept with Melinda, chastises E for being such an idiot and tells him to get his shit together and get over Sloane. At least someone finally said it – and no, Ari’s little “grow a pair” talks never count because none of them ever listens to Ari.
For some idiotic, self-sabotaging reason, E is still sleeping with Melinda, and we get to see them lying awkwardly in bed together while E bitches about Sloane. You’re not fooling anyone E, you sound like a teenage girl trying to convince herself that she’s just so much hotter than that boy who dumped her. He says he has to tell Melinda because his friends are tired of hearing about it – well, guess what E? So are we.
But, the drama escalates. Turtle spots Sloane and Galecki at the Farmers Market, right after Melinda says E’s still in love with Sloane. On cue, E heads right over to confront Galecki and Sloane with Melinda in the Farmers Market because her dating Galecki confirms that she slept with Seth Green way back when – at least in his mind, I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure. He chases her out of the restaurant and berates her before finally calling her slut. And this is when I growled with rage because I actually cannot believe that after all these years he’s actually this much of an imbecile. He gets his just desserts when Galecki so eloquently fires him, but he makes sure to follow Sloane home she he can be a big boy and apologize.
It turns out she was actually going to tell Galecki that she needed to break up with him and when E says he wants her back and asks if she still has feelings for him, she says it doesn’t matter is she’s not over him because her family means more. Then comes the shocker – yes! Finally a really shocker with the Sloane/E saga! – she says she’s pregnant and she’s only slept with E so it’s his. But – and it’s a big but – she’s still going to NY and she doesn’t want anything from E.
Thank you, Entourage. Thank you for making these last few episodes about the relationships and not the “Eh! Is Vince gonna do the movie?” back and forths. Some of us have had our gripes about this show through the years, but the thing that’s kept us coming back and that’s made sure we’re all here to see these final episodes are the characters. They’re our guys and through mediocre plots and so-so acting, we love them just the same. It’s only fitting that the last few episodes would have more concerned with their happiness than their pocketbooks – well, maybe not in Turtle’s case, but a lifetime of great Italian food is almost as good a relationship, right?

On the eve of the release of Paul, a movie about two aging geeks who find an alien while on a road trip to Comic-Con, we figured it would be a good time to revisit our favorite sci-fi road trips. We’re not talking about a sci-fi journeys, either. These movies aren’t just about a group of people hiking toward some far off destination, they’re about that great American tradition of hoping in a vehicle (of some sort) and heading off on a mission, be it to accomplish a precise goal or to simply wander. As long as they’re in a vehicle when they do it, it’s up for consideration-- and the great thing about sci-fi is that the vehicles can get pretty crazy.
Also, be wary of spoilers below for any of the films you haven’t seen.
Starman
The Vehicle: 1977 Ford Mustang Cobra II
The Travelers: Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen) and the Starman (Jeff Bridges)
The Destination: From Wisconsin to Arizona so the Starman can catch an intergalactic ride away from the stupid people who shot down his peace-bringing spaceship.
Trip Highlight: There’s a lot to pick from in John Carpenter’s Starman - resurrecting a deer, fighting the truckers, fleeing the NSA - but the highlight would have to be Starman driving their car directly into a gas tanker while they’re both inside. It takes balls to intentionally blow up your road-tripping ride, even if you are a space alien.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Vehicle: A variety of station wagons and trucks, but it all begins in a yellow Ford-F250.
The Travelers: Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian (Melinda Dillon)
The Destination: Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming
Trip Highlight: The arrival of the mothership, of course. It technically happens after they’ve reached their destination, but we’re still counting it since it’s the start of a second road trip for Roy. Except where he’s going, they don’t need roads. (Sorry, it had to be said.)
Sunshine
The Vehicle: The spaceship Icarus II
The Travelers: A team of eight scientists
The Destination: The sun
Trip Highlight: Some crazy stuff goes down in Sunshine, but as insane as stuff gets, the trip highlight has to be the spacewalk Kaneda and Capa take to make repairs after Trey forgets to adjust the heat shield for their new trajectory. Not only is it a visually awesome scene, but it’s essentially the most high-stakes tire change ever seen in a road trip movie.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Vehicle: The spaceship Discovery One
The Travelers: David Bowman (Keir Dullea), Dr. Franke Poole (Gary Lockwood) and Hal 9000
The Destination: Jupiter, though no one knows what to expect when they get there.
Trip Highlight: Dave’s mind-bending trip into the monolith orbiting Jupiter, which in turn sent countless college kids on acid trips of their own while trying to figure out just what in the hell the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey means.
Spaceballs
The Vehicle: A pimped-out Winnebago Chieftain
The Travelers: Lone Star (Bill Pullman) and Barf (John Candy)
The Destination: Planet Druidia to stop President Skroob (Mel Brooks) from stealing all of its air.
Trip Highlight: Lone Star and Dark Helmet’s duel inside Mega Maid’s ear, which taught the world over the heartwarming message that you don’t need a special ring to use the Schwartz as long as you’re pure of heart. Or something.
Fanboys
The Vehicle: A 1984 Chevy Van
The Travelers: A group of geeks on a mission to see Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace early.
The Destination: Skywalker Ranch
Trip Highlight: A surprise encounter with William Shatner in Las Vegas, who then tells them what they need to do to infiltrate Skywalker Ranch. Sure, the movie may not be all that great, but it’s scenes like this that prove its intentions were in the right place.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Vehicle: Treebeard, the oldest Ent of Middle Earth
The Travelers: Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd)
The Destination: Isengard
Trip Highlight: Merry and Pippin going to battle riding atop giant, ancient walking trees of doom. Enough said.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Vehicle: The spaceship Heart of Gold
The Travelers: Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), Ford Prefect (Mos Def) Zaphond Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) and Marvin (Alan Rickman/Warwick Davis)
The Destination: The planet Magrathea, which contains the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything
Trip Highlight: All manner of insane and improbable things happen in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, so it’s hard to pick just a single highlight. However, we’ve got to hand it to Marvin the Paranoid Android for saving the day by turning the Point-of-View gun on the Vogons, causing them to be overcome with crippling despair.
The Core
The Vehicle: Virgil, a deep-Earth drilling vessel.
The Travelers: A team of scientists and astronauts trying to restart the Earth’s molten core, which has stopped spinning.
The Destination: The Core, duh.
Trip Highlight: Let’s be clear, The Core is only a movie worth talking about because of how joyously silly it is. To that end, we can’t help but give a bit of a slowclap to its cheesiest moment: getting rescued because a pod of whales singing a song that alerts the surface that Virgil survived the nuclear explosions at the core.
Star Trek: The Voyage Home
The Vehicle: A Bird-of-Prey starship
The Travelers: The exiled officers of the USS Enterprise.
The Destination: Earth, 1986, where the crew plan to abduct a humpback whale and bring it back to the future.
Trip Highlight: Well if it isn’t another whale-related sci-fi plot point (if only we had gone with the falling whale in Hitchhiker’s Guide, we’d have a hat trick going on)... Strange obsession with whales aside, it’s hard not to love the scene where Kirk saves the day (and the future) by decloaking the Bird-of-Prey right in front of a group of angry whalers who most likely all had to change their underwear afterward.

What is an ensemble cast? How many actors constitute one? There aren’t any guidelines that determine what qualifies as a true ensemble, but if anyone can offer some insight it would be Woody Allen, who has been getting great groups of actors together for decades now. From Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters to Melinda and Melinda and You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, he’s always had a keen eye for casting and the stars continue to line up to work with the iconic auteur.
With the home entertainment release of his latest, fore mentioned film at hand, I thought it’d be apt to honor some of the coolest ensemble casts ever assembled. Keep in mind: this isn’t a list of the best films featuring an ensemble cast. It’s about the best rosters of talent roped in for a single production.
True Romance
This under-appreciated Tony Scott action spectacle was polarizing to audiences because of its ultra-violent approach, particularly toward women. But Patricia Arquette proved herself to be one tough chick, able to take a beating a give it back in equal measure. Together with her beau-to-be Christian Slater, she embarks on an odyssey to free herself from pimp Gary Oldman and, later, his criminal overlord Christopher Walken, all while L.A. detectives Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn are hot on the trail of drugs and blood. With bonus appearances by Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Michael Rapaport and more, True Romance is a twisted web of cameos and special roles filled by some of the coolest actors of the time.
The Thin Red Line
WWII films have a long history of stellar casts comprised of legions of screen legends. This 1998 genre entry continues that grand tradition with enough A-listers to make five separate movies. George Clooney, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Miranda Otto, John Cusack, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, Nick Stahl, Elias Koteas and Jim Caviezel all appear in the prestigious picture at one point or another – a logistic achievement in and of itself.
Love Actually
This sweet rom-com gets me every time. Not just because of the cheerful dialogue and warm and fuzzy relationships, but also because of the charming cast of characters played by Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, January Jones, Elisha Cuthbert, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Elizabeth, Andrew Lincoln, Denise Richards and the adorable Thomas Sangster. Together, there are around eight revolving, relatable romances in the film, but we wouldn’t have cared about any of them if not for the lovable cast.
Crash
In telling this sprawling tale about the intersecting lives of a handful of Angelenos, director Paul Haggis needed an international cast to represent the diverse population of the City of Angels. He got it with Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Esposito, Shaun Toub, Daniel Dae Kim, Matt Dillon, Loretta Devine, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Keith David, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Pena, Tony Danza and Thandie Newton. Though Dillon was the only actor recognized by the Academy at awards time, the triumph of the film belongs to its eclectic cast.
The Magnificent Seven
Akira Kurasawa’s epic Seven Samurai was practically begging for a Hollywood adaptation when it was released in 1954. By 1960, director John Sturges had made it a reality with a pack of screen idols including the dashing Yul Brynner, the inimitable Eli Wallach, the ultra-cool Steve McQueen, the bad-ass Charles Bronson, the slick Robert Vaughn, the cool James Coburn and the “newbie” Horst Buchholz. The septuplet of stars had a great deal of chemistry that made their on-screen antics all the more enjoyable to watch, and fifty years later their work on this classic film has become the stuff of movie mythology.
Oceans Twelve
The star power packed into these popular motion pictures is astonishing. With Hollywood heavyweights like George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt leading an army of talent - young and old - including Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck and Julia Roberts, there's no shortage of charisma throughout the film. You may be wondering why I chose Oceans Twelve over the 2001 remake of the 1960 original; it's because this hit heist pic also features the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Albert Finney, Robbie Coltrane, Jared Harris, Vincent Cassel and Bruce Willis in appearances big and small. Not too shabby for a sequel...
The Women
Forget the awful 2008 remake. I implore you to give the original a chance. It’s a virtual who’s who of top Hollywood talent of the era. The premise is simple by today’s standards, but in 1939 its empowering themes were ahead of its time. Some of best actresses to ever grace the silver screen, including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Lucile Watson and Marjorie Main delivered the message. All of the above are Oscar winners or nominees, making this cast of female performers one of the most celebrated of all time.
The Outsiders
I’m not sure if Francis Ford Coppola knew what he was onto when he picked his rag-tag group of actors for this kick-ass 1983 film. After all, most of the actors were relatively unknown and untested at the time (save for C. Thomas Howell, who had just starred in Steven Spielberg's E.T.), but that quickly changed in the years following its release. Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane and Tom Cruise all appeared in the acclaimed teen drama, leaving behind one hell of a legacy.

Cast as Robert Blake's wife in the based-on-fact TV-movie "Judgment Day: The John List Story" (CBS)

Cast on the short-lived TNT series "Heartland"

Played the long suffering wife of a game show host in "Magnolia"

Screen acting debut in "The April Fools"

Acted in the post 9/11 drama "Reign Over Me"

Summary

An original member of the Second City improv troupe, Melinda Dillon scored a Tony nomination for her supporting work as the vulnerable Honey in the original Broadway production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" After her Golden Globe-nominated turn in "Bound for Glory" (1976), she earned an Oscar nomination for one of her most famous roles, that of a mother in search of her alien-abducted child in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). After roles in "Slap Shot" (1977) and "F.I.S.T." (1978), she earned another Oscar nomination as a woman driven to suicide by the machinations of a reporter (Sally Field) in "Absence of Malice" (1981) and achieved pop cultural immortality as the sweet, slightly goofy mother in the ultimate holiday classic, "A Christmas Story" (1983). Dillon scored important roles as John Lithgow's wife in "Harry and the Hendersons" (1987) and Nick Nolte's troubled sister in "The Prince of Tides" (1991), but notched smaller supporting turns in the ensemble pieces "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995), "How to Make an American Quilt" (1995) and "Magnolia" (1999). Working steadily but quietly, the actress continued to pop up in character roles, including an uncredited turn in "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" (2012). Equally adept at comedy as well as drama, Melinda Dillon was an exceptionally gifted actress who brought a unique spark to any project in which she appeared.<p>Born Oct. 13, 1939 in Hope, AR, Melinda Rose Dillon began her career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, IL and subsequently became an original member of the famed Second City improvisational company. She made her Broadway debut creating the role of Honey in the original production of Edward Albee's classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for which she won a New York Drama Critics Award as well as received a Tony nomination. She became a familiar face to audiences of that era with a string of TV guest spots on such popular programs as "Bonanza" (NBC, 1959-1973) and "The Jeffersons" (CBS, 1975-1985), while also making her film debut in "The April Fools" (1969), where she played an eccentric neighbor of Catherine Deneuve. Dillon's greatest impact would come on the big screen, and she earned a Golden Globe nomination for playing the dual roles of Woody Guthrie's abandoned wife and his singing partner in Hal Ashby's biopic "Bound for Glory" (1976). Her career earned a major boost, elevating her to household name status when Steven Spielberg cast her in his extraterrestrial masterpiece, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) as a desperate mother coping with the alien abduction of her son. Her frantic search for her young son (Cary Guffey) as the aliens surround the family farmhouse, beaming otherworldly light through every crevice in the wall and floorboards, remained one of the most classic moments put to film. Her heartbreaking performance earned Dillon nominations for an Oscar and Saturn Award.<P>Dillon proved surprisingly sexy in the hockey comedy "Slap Shot" (1977) and flexed her dramatic chops as the lover of union organizer Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) in the drama "F.I.S.T." (1978). After a sweet cameo in "The Muppet Movie" (1979), she starred in several made-for-TV movies, including "The Shadow Box" (ABC, 1980), before notching her most powerful dramatic film role in Sydney Pollack's "Absence of Malice" (1981). As a loyal but emotionally fragile friend whose attempts to defend a businessman (Paul Newman) result in her own undoing and eventual suicide, Dillon delivered an unforgettable performance which earned her a second Oscar nomination. Dillon's most iconic and most beloved role, however, came when she played the high-spirited but understanding mother of young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) in "A Christmas Story" (1983). Although the film achieved a quiet, sleeper success at the box office upon its initial release, it was not until later in the decade that annual television airings and word-of-mouth propelled it into a beloved classic. By the 1990s, "A Christmas Story" was universally acknowledged as an annual holiday must-see and, for many viewers, an all-time favorite with oft-quoted lines and sequences immortalized in the popular imagination. Dillon herself provided many of the film's best moments, showcasing her exceptional ability with comedy as well as drama, including her frazzled, one-sided battle with her husband's (Darren McGavin) alluring leg lamp, her "mommy's little piggy" eating lesson with finicky younger brother Randy (Ian Petrella), and a touchingly gentle sequence in which she gracefully defuses a potential dinner table fight between Ralphie and his father. <p>Dillon went on to anchor an especially memorable nuclear war-themed installment of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1959-1964, 1985-89; UPN, 2002-03), earned another Saturn Award nomination as John Lithgow's warm wife in the Bigfoot family favorite "Harry and the Hendersons" (1987), and essayed Savannah Wingo, Nick Nolte's fragile poet sister whose attempted suicide serves as the catalyst for family redemption in Barbra Streisand's masterful drama, "The Prince of Tides" (1991). Continuing her journey as an acclaimed character actress, Dillon notched a CableACE nomination for her work on the medical ethics drama "State of Emergency" (HBO, 1994) and took small roles in the ensemble films "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995), "How to Make an American Quilt" (1995) and "Magnolia" (1999). Although her professional output slowed in later years, the actress still managed to notch interesting character work, including supporting turns in the gay romance "Adam & Steve" (2005), the 9/11 drama "Reign Over Me" (2007), and the quirky apocalyptic romantic comedy "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" (2012). <p><i>By Jonathan Riggs</i>